Chicago’s new Apple store has a giant MacBook for a roof

Construction is underway at the new Apple store in downtown Chicago, and today, as reported by DNA Chicago, a new design element was added — a giant Apple logo. A construction crew laid out the logo on the store’s silver, rectangular roof, making it look like a giant MacBook. It stayed for less than an hour before crews rolled up the logo and removed it.

Designed by London-based Foster+Partners, the store is a relocation of Apple’s original Chicago flagship and is a 20,000-square-foot space which, upon completion, will have all-glass walls and a thin, carbon fiber roof… that looks like a MacBook.

The first renderings were originally unveiled in 2015, and touted the project’s “echo” to Prairie Style homes. As the Chicago Tribune details, the all-glass walls range between 14 to 32 feet in height, and are made out of four layers of half-inch thick glass joined with layers of stronger, thicker laminated glass.

THE STORE WILL HAVE ALL-GLASS WALLS AND A THIN, CARBON FIBER ROOF… THAT LOOKS LIKE A MACBOOK

Though the Apple logo on top wasn’t in original plans, outlets like the Chicago Tribuneand NBC Chicago made mention of the logo’s inclusion on the store’s roof as early as March 28th. “The roof is made from a lightweight material used in yacht hulls to keep it thin,” writes the Chicago Tribune, “four feet thick at its widest point and four inches at its narrowest, with an Apple logo on top.” Between these clues, the original renderings, and all the overhead photos people have taken along the way, it’s astounding the MacBook roof stayed a mystery until now.

When it is finished, the store will include many of the new elements that were introduced at a San Francisco store last year, including an outdoor plaza and a video wall with gathering space called “The Forum.” Apple has not indicated when the new Chicago store will open, but you can watch the construction crew fuss with its oversized logo above.